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Israeli authorities demolished about 80 homes in the Palestinian village of Al-Dhahiya in the Negev on Monday, displacing around 400 people, according to Israel’s public broadcaster “KAN”.
Teams from the Israel Land Authority carried out the demolitions with reinforced police forces under the authority of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The homes were said to have been built without permits in the unrecognized village, north of Rahat.
The Beersheba District Court rejected a petition on Sunday seeking to postpone the demolitions, “KAN” reported. About 400 people had been living in the homes.
In recent weeks, Ben-Gvir has publicly drawn attention to demolitions of hundreds of homes belonging to Palestinian citizens of Israel, also known as Israeli Arabs, over alleged construction without permits.
Last Tuesday, Ben-Gvir took part in the demolition of a five-storey building in the At-Tur neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. The building housed 70 Palestinians. The Jerusalem Governorate called the action “electoral exploitation of Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinians”.
Palestinian representatives condemn demolitions
The Joint List, an alliance of three Arab parties, described the demolitions as “a blatant assault on the most basic human and national rights of our people”. It said the operation continued successive Israeli governments’ policies of demolishing homes and displacing residents of Arab villages in the Negev.
Hassan al-Nasasra, deputy mayor of Rahat, also condemned the demolitions, saying they were not an implementation of the law but “election propaganda” for Ben-Gvir and his group.
“KAN” reported that United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas had sent an urgent letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, calling for demolition orders to be frozen until the elections are over and a new government is formed.
Abbas warned against using demolitions for “political and electoral purposes”. He said Ben-Gvir had publicly boasted about taking part in demolitions “in a way that undermines the integrity of the election and the neutrality of law enforcement agencies”.
Abbas said residents of unrecognized Negev villages could not obtain building permits because of a lack of planning for which the state was responsible. He called for a complete halt to demolitions of inhabited homes in those villages.
Many Negev villages lack official recognition
Dozens of Palestinian villages in the Negev are not recognized by Israeli authorities. Their homes are considered unauthorized, and residents lack connections to water, electricity and road networks, as well as access to schools, clinics and other basic services.
Last year, the daily “Yedioth Ahronoth” reported that demolition orders in the region had increased by as much as 400% since the start of that year. Israeli rights organizations criticized the campaign as discriminatory and said it specifically targeted the Bedouin community.
Palestinian Bedouins in the Negev are Arab tribes that have lived in the area for centuries, predating the establishment of Israel in 1948. Israel was established in 1948 on lands captured by Zionist armed groups and occupied the remaining Palestinian territories in 1967, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Israel’s general elections are scheduled for Oct. 27.
